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Georgia voters will select between three Republicans in the race for governor May 20: incumbent Nathan Deal, former Dalton Mayor David Pennington and State School Superintendent John Barge. Barge is abandoning his own re-election bid to run for governor. He told GPB recently Georgia’s gains on college-entrance exams, national assessments and the graduation rate will suffer if state leaders don’t restore years of cuts in education funding.

State Schools Superintendent John Barge officially launched his bid to unseat Gov. Nathan Deal Tuesday. Teachers say it will put school issues at the heart of the 2014 gubernatorial election. But GOP strategists believe it’s a Hail Mary pass by Barge.

Georgia's State School Superintendent says the state needs another year to work on a teacher evaluation system. That's despite the threat of losing nearly $10 million in federal Race to the Top funding.

State Attorney General Sam Olens has sent a letter to State School Superintendent John Barge saying local school boards can’t advocate or oppose constitutional amendments using public funds. Many school boards have been opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment on charter schools that will appear on the November ballot.

Lawmakers and education officials gathered Friday to mull options for the 16 state-approved charter schools invalidated last month by the state Supreme Court. Officials said the schools have two short term options: Get approval from local school districts that originally rejected them, or become state special schools.

Five straight days of public school closings in parts of the state hit by the winter storm gives teachers less time to prepare students for the CRCT test. State education officials say they are working to address the problem.